Rose's Alien
by BrownEyedRose
Summary: A story about Tony and Rose (and eventually a man in a box)


Tony Tyler grew up with stories of the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy and Santa Claus, just like every other kid in London. But he was the only one who had the bedtime stories about a man in a blue box, wandering space and saving civilizations.

"Rosie! Tell me the one about cats again!" And Rose would smile and start the story again.

Little did he know that he was learning the secrets of time and space before he learned his ABCs.

His mummy would try to listen to the stories too, but when Mummy was standing in the doorway, Rosie would only tell the boring stories, like Goldilocks and the Three Bears, or Little Red Riding Hood. There were no aliens in those stories, and like his sister, Tony Tyler liked aliens. He would come home from school with pictures he had drawn of the magic box and of the man inside, until Mummy told him to stop showing the pictures to Rosie.

Mummy said they made her cry.

When Tony was four, the stories stopped. Rosie stopped coming to dinner and when she did come, she barely ate and left as quickly as possible.

Tony hated it. Mummy had said that Rosie was trying to find someone, someone very important to her. _But who is more important than me? _Tony wondered. _I'm Rosie's little bear. I'm the most important. _

He didn't see Rose for over a year. Mum refused to talk about Rose, wouldn't acknowledge that she was missing. But Tony noticed Mum set an extra place at dinner every night, and would glance at the door, almost as if she was waiting for Rose to stomp in, with her blue leather jacket and messy blonde hair.

Rose never did. Not until the night before Tony's sixth birthday. It was almost like she had just appeared in the room, not there one moment, and there the next. She looked tired, and angry.

Without saying anything, she walked over to Daddy and whispered something in his ear. He gave her a look, the same look that Tony's teacher gave him that one time when he "accidentally" fed the class fish crayon shavings to see what would happen. The _what on earth are you doing? _look.

"Care to share with your Mum what you're about to do Rose? Your little brother? Want to tell them that this is probably the last time you're ever going to see them?"

Rose flipped her hair out of her eyes, and stared at Tony, purposely avoiding catching her mum's gaze.

"I've got it. I've done it. It's going to be the furthest I've been ever, but if I save the multiverse, one little life isn't going to matter. Not at all."

Confused, Tony tried to stand up, but Rose started to talk again, this time staring at Mum. "And don't ever say anything. You know it's true. I don't value my life over the billions that are going to be lost. Don't value it over Tony's or yours or Pete's. I'm doing this, and nothing, _nothing _you say will convince me otherwise." She abruptly knelt down, looking into Tony's eyes.

"Hey, little bear." She whispered. "I'm going away, maybe for a really long time, okay? But," She pulled a chain off from around her neck. "I need to make sure that someone has this. It can't be lost too." Rose looped the necklace around Tony's neck, fingers lingering over the key that hung off it for half a second. "If the man from our stories ever shows up, just show him that. And tell him who you are. Don't forget your sister, okay Tony?" She glanced around the kitchen one last time, and walked quickly out the door, into the dark night.

Everyone sat at the table staring out the door, in slight shock for a second. And then, Mum shoved back her chair and chased Rose outside, screaming her name. Daddy followed Mum, leaving Tony at the table by himself. He finished his dinner, and sat on the couch, waiting for his family to come back.

Only Daddy did. He didn't say anything, just picked up the half-asleep Tony up, walked up the stairs and tucked him into bed, before walking next door into his study. Tony could hear him talking on the phone late into the night.

Mum and Rose didn't come back for five days. Daddy didn't let Tony out of the house, and didn't let him watch the television. But, one night, Tony overheard the radio coming from Daddy's study.

"…Canada and Mexico have stopped responding to any call attempted. There has been no response since this morning at 6:30. South Korea is evidentially under some sort of alien attack, details unknown. So far, England has not been the victim in any attack, but there have been reports from Wales about…."

Tony stopped listening. He ran into Daddy's study. "I want Mummy." He cried. "I want Mummy and Rosie and I want to go outside and play and I want everyone back."

"I know. So do I. So do I." Tony and his Daddy fell asleep on the couch in the study that night.

When Tony woke up the next morning, the sun was shining. It hadn't done that in weeks. Confused, he stumbled downstairs into the kitchen. Sitting at the table was a strange man, tall and thin, wearing a blue suit. Next to him, Rose was asleep, her head on the table.

"Shh." The man whispered. "She's sleeping. And who might you be?"

Tony stared at the man, and then climbed up to sit on the table. "Tony. I'm Tony. Why are you in my kitchen?"

"Long story. Why are you in your kitchen?"

Tony kept staring at him. "I'm hungry." He crawled across the table until he was right in front of the man. "Who are you?"

"I'm not quite sure. I mean… the Doctor. I'm him. But different."

Tony started to say something, but changed his mind. "Do you have a blue box?"

The man looked surprised. "Yes. I did. She's gone now, though." He looked sad for a second, but then looked up at Tony. "How did you know?"

Tony didn't answer. Instead, he pulled Rose's key from around his neck. "I think this is yours."


End file.
